OXNARD POLICE DEPARTMENT

PRESS RELEASE

A ban on vending from vehicles or structures and a ban on selling vehicles or structures on Oxnard’s roadways will be enforced beginning March 1, 2009 by the Oxnard Police Department.

On January 1, 2008, California Streets and Highways Code section 731 was amended by the State legislature to allow enforcement by local law enforcement agencies. Section 731 prohibits, among other things, the selling of vehicles on any highway. Violation of this section is a misdemeanor and vehicles can be removed as a nuisance.

A vehicle or structure may be removed from any highway as a public nuisance when:

It is parked for the purpose of selling the vehicle or structure, or

The vehicle or structure is used to sell any article, service or thing.

It is a misdemeanor for any person to park any vehicle or structure within a highway for:

The purpose of selling that vehicle or structure, or

The purpose of selling any article or thing.

It is a misdemeanor for any person to:

Sell, display for sale or offer for sale any article or thing either in or from a vehicle or structure parked or placed within a highway, or

Store, service, repair or otherwise work upon any vehicle parked or placed within a highway, other than upon a vehicle which is temporarily disabled.

After a 30-day grace period, Oxnard officers will begin enforcing the provisions of this Code within the city limits. Vehicles such as ice cream trucks typically conduct curbside sales, are mobile in nature and are therefore regulated separately by the Vehicle Code.

The intent of the section is to dissuade people from using highways for the sole purpose of selling vehicles or selling articles/things from vehicles or structures.

The full text of California Streets and Highways Code section 731 is available online at the State of California Legislative Counsel Web site, http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.